Barely a day after Apple was slapped hard with a patent issue over its browser, it received another blow, this time in UK and from ASA (The Advertising Standards Authority)

First, the advertisement. This advertisement, run by O2 for its UK customers stress on one feature -speed. The iPhone 3G, they say, is a “really fast device”. This ad stresses on the fact that you can do virtually everything at a superfast pace on your iPhone 3G - from surfing to finding location and all that.

So shat was the problem? According to the report,  17 viewers complained that the ad had shown an exaggeration of the speed factor. And ASA promptly appeared with their axe. Following is an another excerpt from the ASA adjunction:

We noted the voice-over claim “really fast” was used in conjunction with each of the functions shown in the visuals. Although we noted the on-screen text disclaimer, “network performance will vary by location”, we considered that the visuals, in conjunction with the repeated use of the claim “really fast”, were likely to lead viewers to believe that the device actually operated at or near to the speeds shown in the ad. Because we understood that it did not, we concluded that the ad was likely to mislead,

The verdict? The ad won’t be shown again in its current form again.

Looks like Apple has suddenly stumbled upon an legal hole of some sort with its darling device.